Forest tracts of the northern and southern belts

mature and overmature forests available for exploitation [1] is estimated at 156.2 million hectares - 44.5% of the country's forested area






The distribution of forest resources is mainly zonal in nature. Th


e maximum reserves are available in the regions of the taiga zone (Irkutsk region, Krasnoyarsk Territory, the central part of the Khabarovsk Territory, in the European part of the country - Kostroma and Novgorod regions). To the north and south of the central part of the forest zone of the country, there is a noticeable decrease in timber reserves per unit area. In addition, the central part of Russia, in the course of long-term economic development, has lost a significant part of its forests. The steppe zone proper and the tundra are the most forest-deficient regions of Russia. In the south of the country, a local focus of forest resources is noted in the mountain forests of the Caucasus. The minimum value in the country is the forest potential of semi-desert Kalmykia.
The use of forest resources is characterized by data on the total volume of cuttings. [2] The timber harvesting is of the greatest importance in the economic life of the region in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Komi and Arkhangelsk Regions, slightly less - in the Kostroma, Perm, Tomsk, Irkutsk, Amur Regions and in the Khabarovsk Territory. The minimum use of forests is typical for all regions of the steppe zone and those Subjects of the Federation, a significant part of whose area is located in the tundra



The main wood reserves are located in sparsely populated areas, and the areas with the largest population are located mainly in forest-deficient areas. In those regions where forests perform protective functions (Moscow region, Leningrad region), logging is difficult (Sayans) or there is a combination of these conditions (Northern Caucasus, Southern Sikhote-Alin), there is some excess of forest potential over the current level of use (resource concentration / intensity criterion use). In most other regions, felling volumes per capita of the country are practically proportional to their forest potential, which reflects the dependence of logging on the quality of the timber base. Most significantly, the scale of logging exceeds the forest potential in Karelia, Komi, the Arkhangelsk region and the Krasnoyarsk Territory (conservative type of structure). This makes it possible to predict the complication of the economic situation of loggers in the European North and Central Siberia. The timber industry in these regions is faced with the need to change the technologies for the extraction and primary processing of raw materials. Such a transition is objectively more effective for small organizations and will be associated with a decrease in the role of large state-owned enterprises, including loggers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs :-). At the same time, the system of paid forest use should be expanded. Against the background of rising world prices for wood, it is quite timely to replace part of the production taxes with forest rent (the price of standing timber), which will intensify the search for new technological and organizational ways to increase the yield of business products with minimal deforestation.
In the more southerly or closer to the centers of forest consumption areas of European Russia and the Far East, the felling volumes are better balanced with the available resources. This indicates that many regions of the Central and Northwestern economic regions have already overcome the initial stage of intensification of wood harvesting and processing technologies. For these reasons, we can expect a shift in the load on forest resources from remote regions to those closer to developed centers. Economic processes in forest management are accompanied here by the expansion of access to forest resources for new enterprises and the population, which allows them to use the forest potential as one of the sources of income not specified by official statistics.
In the sparsely forested zone in the south of the European part of the country, the volumes of forest use are very small. However, the value of the specific wood removal here exceeds the norm that has developed in the Central, North-Western, Volga-Vyatka regions. This